New Rainbow Warrior To Visit New Zealand For First Time

Auckland, Friday 16 November 2012: Today
Greenpeace announced that the state of the art new Rainbow
Warrior will visit New Zealand for the first time in January
and February 2013.

“The Rainbow Warrior has been the
heart and soul of Greenpeace global campaigning for over 30
years”, said Bunny McDiarmid, Executive Director of
Greenpeace New Zealand. “She’s been raided, rammed, shot
at and bombed but the spirit of the Rainbow Warrior is as
strong as ever”.

“Many Kiwis donated to the building
of the new Rainbow Warrior so it’s great to be able to
show people what they made possible.”

“The Rainbow
Warrior connects with New Zealanders not only because of her
namesakes past but also of what she represents for our
future. This ship is the embodiment of the direction we need
to move in. Her design is innovative, intelligent and
stylish. She maximises efficiency and minimises pollution of
our environment. The Rainbow Warrior will be continuing to
do the same thing but in a smarter, brand spanking cleaner
way”, Bunny McDiarmid says.

She says it’s
appropriate to announce the visit of the Rainbow Warrior on
the same day that Elvis Teddy of Te Whanau a Apanui is in
the High Court to defend his protest action in 2011 against
deep sea oil drilling in the Raukumara Basin. The
announcement also coincides with BP agreeing to initially
pay out US$4.5 billion in reparations for the Gulf of Mexico
oil spill two years ago, while our Government is frantically
giving out permits to foreign oil companies to come here and
drill in even deeper waters off the coasts of Otago, Bay of
Plenty and Northland.

As the third Greenpeace ship to hold
the Rainbow Warrior name, she will be docking at five
locations for free public tours of the ship in Auckland,
Oban (Stewart Island), Bluff, Dunedin and Wellington. The
itinerary will have some surprises in store. Details will be
posted when confirmed closer to the time at www.rainbow-warrior.org.nz

The
Rainbow Warrior will also visit Te Whanau a Apanui at
Whangaparaoa Bay and help kick off a national “Oil free
seas” hui and festival at Te Kaha in mid-January.

At 58
metres long the new Rainbow Warrior is Greenpeace’s first
purpose built ship, funded entirely by donations from
Greenpeace supporters from across the world. Kiwi
contributions funded the wet room, where activists board the
inflatables. A plaque onboard acknowledges this
contribution.

After French Government agents bombed the
first ship in Auckland harbour in 1985, the original ship
was laid to rest off Matauri Bay, Northland. Her replacement
then picked up the baton and led global campaigns for over
21 years before going to a Bangladesh charity called
Friendship last year who now use the vessel as a hospital
ship.ends

Supposedly, Winston Peters’ victory in Northland has exposed the simmering dissatisfaction with the government that exists out in the provinces. Yet it remains to be seen whether this defeat will have much significance – and not simply because if and when Labour resumes business as usual in the Northland seat at the next election, Peters’ hold on it could simply evaporate.

On Saturday, National’s electorate vote declined by 7,000 votes, as the 9,000 majority it won last September turned into a 4,000 vote deficit – mainly because Labour supporters followed the nod and wink given by Labour leader Andrew Little, and voted tactically for Peters. In the process, Labour’s vote went down from nearly 9,000 votes six months ago, to only 1,315 on Saturday. More>>

The National Party Government has today revealed that the national environmental report topics for this year will, incredibly, exclude New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Party said today. More>>

ALSO:

Reports that German privacy laws may have contributed to the Germanwings air crash have prompted New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner to reassure the public that the Privacy Act is no impediment to medical practitioners notifying appropriate authorities to a pilot’s health concerns. More>>

The settlement includes a $13.5 million payment the government made in June 2013, as well as land in the Taranaki region. The settlement also includes four culturally significant sites, the Waipakari Reserve, Te Kohinga Reserve, Te Ngutu o te Manu and Te Poho o Taranaki. More>>

Supposedly, New Zealand’s destiny lies in Asia, and that was one of Foreign Minister Murray McCully’s rationales for his bungled reforms at MFAT. OK. So, if that’s the case why didn’t Prime Minister John Key attend the state funeral on Sunday of Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew? More>>

The panel choosing the flag options has no visual artists at all. Now, I’ve kerned the odd ligature in my time and I know my recto from my French curve so I thought I’d offer a few suggestions before they get past their depth. More>>

ALSO:

In releasing two reports today, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has highlighted a number of significant problems with the way in which Police deal with people who are detained in Police cells. More>>

The complaints follow recent public allegations about GCSB activities. The complaints, and these public allegations, raise wider questions regarding the collection, retention and sharing of communications data. More>>

ALSO:

Professor Jane Kelsey: ‘As anticipated, the deal gives foreign investors from the TPPA countries special rights, and the power to sue the government in private offshore tribunals for massive damages if new laws, or even court decisions, significantly affected their bottom line’. More>>

Gordon Campbell: The myth of competence that’s been woven around Steven Joyce – the Key government’s “Minister of Everything” and “Mr Fixit” – has been disseminated from high-rises to hamlets, across the country... More>>